NEWS

SZ-Brisbane International Incubation Center Opens

19 Sep 2017

The Shenzhen office of the Brisbane International Innovation Incubation Center was inaugurated at the Shenzhen Bay International Culture Creation Industry Incubation Center in Nanshan District yesterday.

The center, managed and operated by Shenzhen University City Innovation Park Investment and Management Co., was set up to enhance cooperation between the two cities in cultural exchange and innovation.

The center’s Brisbane office was set up at the Capital Innovation Center on Queen Street in Brisbane at the end of August.

The establishment of the two offices marks the 25th anniversary of the sister-city relationship they share, which was established in 1992.

“The Shenzhen office will provide a good chance for Brisbane enterprises to seek business opportunities,” said Graham Quirk, mayor of Brisbane, at an interview with Shenzhen TV.

Quirk headed a delegation of nearly 40 representatives from cultural innovation and economic, trade and investment industries to meet with Shenzhen counterparts.

“Knowledge-intensive industries will be the focus of the cooperation between the two cities, especially in artificial intelligence, and creative and digital industries,” said Quirk.

“Shenzhen is a city of innovation and Brisbane’s innovative city ranking in the world had advanced from 85th place to 59th. The issues relating to urbanization, environment and traffic need innovation and can create job opportunities for the two cities,” said Quirk.

Quirk believes Brisbane will benefit from Shenzhen’s high level of innovation and research, and Brisbane’s advanced education system is attracting more young people from Shenzhen to study in the city.

At a meeting with Quirk on Sunday, Shenzhen Mayor Chen Rugui said Shenzhen will actively promote cooperation with Brisbane in trade and investment, education and health, science research and innovation, culture and tourism by taking a chance on opening the incubation center and instating direct flights between the two cities.

Hainan Airlines plans to launch a nonstop service between Shenzhen and Brisbane tomorrow, following the successful launch of the Shenzhen-Auckland service.

This will be Hainan Airlines’ second intercontinental flight from Shenzhen and the fifth direct flight to Australia and New Zealand.

The route will be serviced by an Airbus A330 deluxe wide-body aircraft, with two round trip flights weekly.

According to the Hainan Airlines website, flight HU411 departs from Shenzhen at 10:35 p.m. every Wednesday and Sunday and arrives at Brisbane at 9:30 a.m. the following morning. Flight HU412 leaves at 11:30 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays and arrives at Shenzhen at 6:40 p.m.

Brisbane is the third-largest municipality in Australia in terms of population, following Sydney and Melbourne, and has hosted a variety of world-class competitions and major conferences.

It is ranked in the top 15 percent of cities worldwide for nurturing innovation, according to the Innovation Cities Index.